Watch the throne
Read on for an interview with the founder of one of the most exciting companies to launch so far this year (plus learn about a great open role at her company).
About Dianna Cohen, founder of Crown Affair
Dianna Cohen started her career at digital content platform, Into The Gloss, in 2012. She was part of the founding team of e-commerce mobile app, Spring, where she launched and managed their marketing channels from pre-launch through year two. From there, she worked closely with former Jimmy Choo founder, Tamara Mellon, to relaunch her namesake brand as a direct-to- consumer, luxury company.
After launching Tamara Mellon in 2016, Dianna joined travel company, Away, as Head of Partnerships until she left to start Levitate at the end of 2017. Under Levitate, Dianna has worked with a number of direct-to-consumer brands including, Harry’s / Flamingo, Outdoor Voices, Yumi, Buck Mason, The Wing, and more. Dianna is part of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for the Class of 2019.
The Interview
onejob: You've worked with some incredible brands, including Harry's, Away, The Wing, and Outdoor Voices. What did you learn from them that you're bringing to Crown Affair?
Dianna: I've been lucky to work with remarkable brands, products, and leaders through the years. Being an early employee exposes you to a range off learnings across every element of the business, from team building and hiring, setting the culture and core values, fundraising, learning into product market fit— the list could go on across each department. I've found that the leaders who keep a tight focus on their vision, listen to and connect regularly with customers, and are present and kind to people are the ones who create cultures and products I admire most.
The VC/Twitterati narrative around DTC brands has gone negative recently. What are your thoughts on that and why is now the right time to launch Crown Affair?
Business of Fashion just wrote a piece on the new DTC narrative with a nice shout out to Crown Affair. What it means to be a brand and launch a business in 2020 is different than a few years ago in regards to scaled growth and paid marketing. The term 'DTC' has been used loosely to mean 'better branding, sold online' and we've forgotten the power of what being direct really means— it means a direct relationship with your customer, your audience. It's a real conversation with them and creating something with them. Direct relationships empower product development, they empower behavior change. I'm really excited about hair as a category. So many other areas of beauty have been democratized, but hair is still very focused on styling, professional, and selling you a moment of 'perfection'. Our community is already shifting that narrative around care and ritual, and that's the narrative we're excited about.
What's your biggest priority at the company right now?
Hiring curious, smart, passionate people who love building things.
What qualities do you value most in potential teammates?
Empathy, curiosity, honesty, attention to detail, humor.
Who's your role model or someone you look up to?
That I've worked with— Ara Katz is a role model and mentor to me. She's a brilliant marketer and storyteller. She puts things into the world that have meaning and purpose, and she inspires me every day to connect to the greater world around us.
That I haven't worked with— Jimmy Iovine. He's been the levitator to so many brilliant innovators. His pattern recognition is off the charts.
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Operations
Why this is a great job
As you can tell from the interview above, Dianna is a powerhouse who’s building an incredible brand. This operations role will get you in on the ground floor and give you a ton of responsibility touching many aspects of the company. This seems like the kind of position where you’ll be on the fast track to move up and play a significant role as they continue to scale.
The nitty gritty
Company website: www.crownaffair.com
Location: NYC
Who you’d be working for: Elaine Choi, Head of Operations
Funding: $1.7M from Brand Foundry and the founders of Bonobos, Third Love, and the Malala Fund (among others)
About Crown Affair—
Crown Affair is a first of its kind haircare brand that empowers people to redefine their relationship with their hair through accessible luxury products, guidance, and community. We believe that loving your hair starts with understanding how to care for it. Each product we make is developed to work together with any (or all) of our other products, so that together they form more than a routine: it’s a ritual. We’ve partnered with dedicated craftsmen and chemists around the world to create thoughtfully sourced products you’ll love using each and every day.
The role
We are looking for an outcome focused, self-starter who sees the systems and processes behind everything to join the operations team at Crown Affair. You will report to our Head of Operations and gain exposure to early-stage company-building and a variety of functions within a fast-growing startup. As one of our first employees, you will have the opportunity and responsibility to put your own stamp on our evolving company culture.
In this role—
This cross-functional role will be responsible for maximizing our company’s operating capabilities across all facets of the company (Supply Chain, Logistics, Customer Experience, Marketing Operations etc.) You thrive on the challenge of navigating a dynamic and fast-paced role and are able to use your analytical and collaborative skills to turn business problems into scalable solutions. You have an eye for detail, with experience documenting and streamlining processes simultaneously. When presented with a challenge you take the lead, engaging with the right people to execute. You think that the best results are delivered through teamwork and pride yourself on your ability to build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships.
What you will do—
Document, develop, and launch new processes and workflows
Own our knowledge management system and define procedural governance and ownership
Work with our Head of Operations to develop new business models, organizational structures, and cross-functional initiatives to increase efficiency across the company
Navigate complexity across departments and build scalable workflows
In this role / Growth Opportunity—
Gain experience in a cross-functional role in a dynamic, fast-paced company in its early stages
Project manage teams internally and cross-functionally
Develop systems and processes to drive business efficiency and optimize for growth
Experience—
3+ years in a consulting or operations role
Self starter with a proven track record of implementing business process improvements to improve metrics
Ability to collect, analyze and use data to make decisions
Excellent written and verbal communication
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